U.S. Tested 'Tsunami Bomb' Off New Zealand Coast

Tsunami waves were nearly the next weapon of mass destruction used by the United States in World War II.

That's what newly-discovered, top-secret documents say -- an operation with the code name "Project Seal" was tested off the coast of New Zealand that involved detonating bombs under the seawater to trigger a massive tsunami wave. According to the Telegraph, approximately 3,700 bombs were set off during the tests. It was concluded that a series of 10 bombs could create a 33-foot wave capable of putting a small city under water.

The documents were discovered by New Zealand filmmaker Ray Waru, who found that the reason why the tsunami bomb wasn't pursued further as a usable weapon in battle was due to the atomic bomb.

"It was absolutely astonishing. First that anyone would come up with the idea of developing a weapon of mass destruction based on a tsunami ... and also that New Zealand seems to have successfully developed it to the degree that it might have worked." The project was launched in June 1944 after a US naval officer, E A Gibson, noticed that blasting operations to clear coral reefs around Pacific islands sometimes produced a large wave, raising the possibility of creating a "tsunami bomb".

In the wake of the earthquake-triggered tsunamis that devastated the coasts of Japan and Sri Lanka over the past decade, the threats a "tsunami bomb" would have presented to life and property are vast.